A New Cycle

Drawing a Line

    Coming out of the link, I gave myself a second to gather my thoughts while giving a basic recap of my day to the surrounding scientists. Looking up to the link pod next to me, I moved over to Jake as he got back in his wheelchair.

  "Give me a second to talk with my less educated partner, would ya?"

  By the way they quickly fled the scene, the story with the guy in the chopper had already made the rounds. I tried to restrain the sadistic smirk that wanted to emerge, though from the look on Jake's face as I moved behind him, it didn't work.

  We were quiet as I wheeled him into a nearby conference room that was rarely used and locked the door behind us. Holding a hand up as Jake started to talk, I moved to the wall and sent out a small electric pulse, shorting out the camera and mic in the corner of the room. Turning back to him, I made sure to keep track of anyone passing by the room.

  "What happened with the tribe is not to leave the tribe, do you understand?" 

  "Why? What's the big-"

  "The only thing I need to hear from you is yes or no."

  "Yes, ma'am." He gulped at the intensity of my glare.

  "Good," I nodded, walking towards the door, "That includes Quatrich, marine."

  I opened the door and started down the hall, ignoring Jake as I headed back to the labs for my log.

..........................

  I decided to have a short workout session today, making my way to the training room. I ignored the whispers that followed me down the hall, putting my hair up into a bun as I crossed the threshold. Walking towards the far wall of weapons, I ignored the silence that fell as I moved through the room and the stares that followed me. Grabbing a bostaff, I tested the balance and gave it a few spins.

  "Need some help, sweetheart?" I gave a slow turn as I faced the group that had catcalled Jake and I getting off the shuttle.

  "Thanks, always looking for some dummies to practice with," I moved past them towards the largest sparring circle in the center of the room. Soldiers nearby gave a small chuckle and started to follow, placing bets as more started to follow, curious at the outrage of the three I had insulted.

  Placing my staff on the floor, I removed my shirt, silencing the mumbles around me as they caught sight of the scars that trailed my arms and torso.

  "You boys know how to use a staff, right?" I queried, beginning my warmup stretches. I could feel them grab weapons off the racks, though they seemed to be practice knives.

  "A little too old for me," one of them scoffed, eyeing me arrogantly as I went into a back bridge. "I prefer something with a little more bite."

  Rolling my eyes, I kicked over into a low crouch, holding the staff upright in front of me. 

  "Boys," I muttered to myself.

    They all approached at once and I simply swept my staff at their knees in a circle, knocking them down in one fell swoop. Standing and moving past 2 of them, I shook my head at the predictability. Turning back as they started to get up, I held my staff behind me as I once again crouched.

  The first one up ran towards me, receiving a swift blow as I brought my staff up to meet his face, knocking him out cold. The other 2 decided to be a bit smarter and stayed where they were, warily trying to circle me again. I kept my eyes on the guy in front of me, prompting the other one to launch his attack. Dropping into a split, I knocked him to the side as he sailed over me. I quickly jumped back up and turned to face the last man standing. 

  He was staring in shock before he looked back at me with wide eyes. He started backing up warily while I simply stared him down. As he reached the edge of the ring, I started running towards him. In panic, he tried to throw his practice knife, though I caught it midair. Jumping up, my knees hit his torso, taking him down with my legs planted on either side of his arms.

  Everyone was silent as I held the practice knife to his throat. "Enough 'bite' for you?"

  He simply looked away as I got up. I once again ignored the stares and whispers as I returned the knife to the weapons rack. Turning back, I addressed the room.

  "Unless anyone else wants to take a turn, don't bother me."

.............

  I was thankfully left alone after my little display, which I took full advantage of. I ran through a few routines with my staff, fighting with the air this time, though I still drew a few looks from the force of my movements. I decided to focus on my arms and core for a bit before calling it a day.

  Moving to the weights, I claimed an empty weight bench and started adding the weights to each side, locking them on when it got to 120. I heard a few scoffs sound, though they were silenced as I easily and smoothly started my reps. I did my typical 50, which drew many disbelieving stares, though they quickly found something more interesting to look at once I set the weights back up. It was silent for the duration of my workout.

  Exiting the doors, I gave a curt nod to Quatrich, though from his stance, he had been watching me for a while. I could feel his eyes trailing me as I moved down the hall and gave myself a mental hi-five at a mission accomplished.

A/N: I've been dealing with the death of a childhood friend, sorry for the lateness.